Nairobi News

From his time in Kenya, where he briefly dabbled in politics, to Australia where he later relocated, Quincy Timberlake has always been synonymous with controversy.

Now, it appears the culmination of Timberlake’s many controversies was a judgment by an Australian Court on Friday which will confine him behind bars for the next 11 years.

Mr Timberlake, 43, was found guilty of manslaughter in an incident that involved the death of his three-year-old son in June 2014.

The court had on September 13, 2023, dropped murder charges against Mr Timberlake following a request by the Australian Prosecution Service.

But while delivering the sentence, Justice Paul Freeburn termed the minor’s death as “brutal and incomprehensible.”

Long before his current woes, and while still living in Kenya, Timberlake initially passed off for someone with grand political ambitions.

In 2010, Mr Timberlake announced that he would be running for Prime Minister in the 2013 General Elections on a Placenta (Platinum Centraliser and Unionist Party) ticket. The party’s other co-founders were Timberlakes’s wife Ms Esther Arunga and Joseph Hellon.

Also read: Quincy Timberlake convicted and jailed for 11 years in Australia for manslaughter

At the time, the Prime Minister’s office was occupied by Opposition leader Raila Odinga but the office was abolished with the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution of Kenya. Thereafter, Timberlake announced that he would instead run for President.

That is when his troubles started. Timberlake, Ms Arunga and Mr Hellon were all arrested for being members of an illegal entity which was known as the Finger of God. Interestingly, the Evangelical church had been registered as a legal society by the government of Kenya in 2006.

The church’s premises was raided by the police who confiscated documents and impounded several vehicles.

Two days later, all those who had been arrested were released, with the exception of Timberlake and Ms Arunga, a one-time celebrated TV presenter.

The couple later claimed that they had been grilled and tortured over the period they were in police custody. Mr Timberlake would spend months behind bars only to be released in May 2011.

At the time there were claims that Timberlake had been planning a revolt against then President Mwai Kibaki’s government.

Also read: Kenyan man in US found dead inside his car with the engine running

In 2012, the couple claimed that they had been constantly attacked and subjected to negative publicity by the media. Shortly, they left Kenya for Dubai, before eventually settling in Australia. Mr Timberlake was quick to announce his plans to work with the Australian Labour Party.

But before he could actualise his political aspirations, on June 18, 2014, Mr Timberlake was implicated in the death of his three-year-old son with Ms Arunga at their family home Brisbane, Australia.

The minor died under bizarre circumstances after Timberlake reportedly punched him in the stomach before throwing him against a wall to exorcise demons from him. Timberlake then reportedly declared that “the devil has gone now.”

The child later died in his bedroom.

During the hearing, the court was told that after delivering the fatal blow on his child, Mr Timberlake brandished a Bible while saying that he was on a mission to find the devil and slap him.

With the judgement, Timberlake is now set to embark on another chapter of his troubled life behind bars in Australia.

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